Non-traditional exporters get boost

pg 57. Feb. 11/08

Story Rebecca Quaicoe Duho

EXPORTERS registered with the Ghana Export Promotions Council (GEPC) will soon benefit from a partnership agreement that will enable them to meet requirements in exporting traditional goods to the European market.
The agreement signed between the council and the centre for the Promotion of Imports from Developing Countries (CBI), an agency of The Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs, will offer training and capacity building programmes for middle-level management of business organisations.
The package will as well enable the beneficiaries to understand the tools for promoting exports into the EU markets.
Director of the CBI, Mr Ton Lansink, signed for his organisation, while the Executive Secretary of the GEPC, Mr Edward Collins Boateng, also signed for the council in Accra as a climax to a week-long consultative programme between the two entities.
According to Mr Lansink, CBI was noted for its programmes in assisting companies in developing countries to access the EU markets by strengthening their competitiveness for the EU markets.
He said currently, due to global trends, there was the need for exporters to be abreast of time so they could fit into the international markets.
The Deputy Ambassador of The Netherlands Embassy in Ghana, Mr M. Bierkens, assured the GEPC of his government’s readiness to help promote the harmonisation of the agreement to the benefit both countries.
For his part, Mr Boateng said as facilitators in the export business, the partnership agreement was going to aid the GEPC in strengthening its relationship with export associations in the country.
A Deputy Director at the GEPC, Mr Gerald Nyarko-Mensah, later told the Daily Graphic that the council had about 20 export associations, made up of about 3,000 registered exporters across the country, but only 300 of them were active.
He explained that that was because most of the exporters in the country were producing sub-standard goods incapable of competing on the EU market.